Emerald Princess first ship in Vancouver for 2019 season

[helby]

The Emerald arrived this morning to start the 2019 season. According to port officials there will be 41 ships from 24 cruise lines in Vancouver this year. Princess is usually the first to arrive and the last to leave.  Over 1,000,000 passengers are expected this year.

[BCCRUSINGCOUPLE]

Just got off this morning it was a great cruise and good weather over 500 kids on board


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[martincath]

So THAT's why it's so annoyingly warm and sunny today - we're throwing the official welcome party for the first ship of the year 😉

[BCCRUSINGCOUPLE]

So THAT's why it's so annoyingly warm and sunny today - we're throwing the official welcome party for the first ship of the year [emoji6]

It was awesome all the way up one night a bit of rain but around the pool great


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[Cruise Junky]

saw her as we drove in this morning. Love seeing the first ship of the season

[skynight]

From Vancouver it's going into dry dock in Victoria. It will return to Vancouver to pick up passengers. Then head to L.A., Ft. Lauderdale via the P.C. and onward to Europe. It will not return to Vancouver this season.

[BuckGood]

We also were on her!

[ErLee]

On 3/29/2019 at 4:11 PM, helby said:

The Emerald arrived this morning to start the 2019 season. According to port officials there will be 41 ships from 24 cruise lines in Vancouver this year. Princess is usually the first to arrive and the last to leave.  Over 1,000,000 passengers are expected this year.

 

We are part of that 1,000,000 and super excited about it!  Two months from today we’ll be sightseeing in Vancouver prior to our 2 weeks in Alaska!  🥳

[helby]

 

 

On 4/11/2019 at 11:45 AM, ErLee said:

 

We are part of that 1,000,000 and super excited about it!  Two months from today we’ll be sightseeing in Vancouver prior to our 2 weeks in Alaska!  🥳

 Enjoy your cruise ErLee and your visit to Vancouver

[cruisingrob21]

Drydock is almost done - seems like mostly behind the scenes fixes such as new windows and new emission controls...but some new carpeting and screens as well (whcih you can see in a picture on this post, cut out of the wall on the left)

 

https://cruisingrobsblog.blogspot.com/2019/04/emerald-princess-4102019-drydock-update.html

[AF-1]

Sailed Emerald to Alaska in July 2017;  it was a great trip on a great ship, with a great crew

[polmcs]

We’ll be on the last departure of the season on Nov 1 on the Star down to LA. We’ll also be in Vancouver next month as we’re doing the reverse cruise also on on the Star. 

 

I’ve read that embarkation can be a problem which won’t be a issue for us as we will be the only ship in port in November, but I’m wondering how disembarkation will be in May as there will be 3 ships in port on the 12th.

[cruisingrob21]

Embarkation in Vancouver in November may not have uscbp pre clearance so you might have a longer wait in San Pedro.

 

3 ships in Vancouver definitely will definitely be a challenge.

Edited April 13, 2019 by cruisingrob21

[DrivesLikeMario]

The ship needed some TLC so I'm glad it's getting it.  I also hope they get a change of crew too.  I had the worst cabin steward I've ever had with Princess on the Emerald recently - and that's a rarity.  They're usually the best. 

[martincath]

13 hours ago, polmcs said:

...but I’m wondering how disembarkation will be in May as there will be 3 ships in port on the 12th.

Early season + 3 ships = messy. But much worse for folks who need to get ON than OFF.

 

Even if Vancouver is your Port of Entry to Canada (i.e. you need to be processed through Immigration) this usually happens mostly 'behind the scenes' as passenger manifest is sent to CBSA. So only folks with problems get flagged to meet with CBSA in person - everyone else, a Customs check may take a minute or so (they don't care about those of you passing through on the way home to the US or elsewhere as long as you have nothing illegal/requiring a license to import, it's just us Canucks who they might try to extract Duty from!)

 

Unless you have an early flight, so are heading straight to YVR, even if the cab queue is mobbed it won't impact you much. There's still SkyTrain or walking to nearby hotels to get a cab - and if you are sensibly staying on for a while, your hotel may be close enough to walk to even dragging luggage as the pier is slap-bang in the heart of downtown...

[MTJSR]

2 hours ago, DrivesLikeMario said:

The ship needed some TLC so I'm glad it's getting it.  I also hope they get a change of crew too.  I had the worst cabin steward I've ever had with Princess on the Emerald recently - and that's a rarity.  They're usually the best. 

Very interesting, we were on Baja midship to Hawaii over Christmas and also had our first worst steward. Something about the Emerald was off, other elements were also not what we have come to expect. 

 

P.S. Hope all is well with you and your family! That Sapphire cruise we were neighbors seems so long ago, scary😳

Mark

Edited April 13, 2019 by MTJSR

[polmcs]

7 hours ago, martincath said:

Early season + 3 ships = messy. But much worse for folks who need to get ON than OFF.

 

Even if Vancouver is your Port of Entry to Canada (i.e. you need to be processed through Immigration) this usually happens mostly 'behind the scenes' as passenger manifest is sent to CBSA. So only folks with problems get flagged to meet with CBSA in person - everyone else, a Customs check may take a minute or so (they don't care about those of you passing through on the way home to the US or elsewhere as long as you have nothing illegal/requiring a license to import, it's just us Canucks who they might try to extract Duty from!)

 

Unless you have an early flight, so are heading straight to YVR, even if the cab queue is mobbed it won't impact you much. There's still SkyTrain or walking to nearby hotels to get a cab - and if you are sensibly staying on for a while, your hotel may be close enough to walk to even dragging luggage as the pier is slap-bang in the heart of downtown...

 

We are flying from SEA, but not till 6:50 PM, so technically have plenty of time. I just need to make sure that are able to catch the 10AM shuttle bus to the US. No option to book a Princess transfer on cruise personalizer. 

 

On the reverse trip, we fly direct into YVR and will take the train direct to downtown to our hotel. I will be dragging my suitcase to the pier the next morning! 😉 Fingers crossed that our flights are on time, immigration is quick and we make it to downtown in time to have a late dinner at Miku. 

[DrivesLikeMario]

On 4/13/2019 at 11:49 AM, MTJSR said:

Very interesting, we were on Baja midship to Hawaii over Christmas and also had our first worst steward. Something about the Emerald was off, other elements were also not what we have come to expect. 

 

P.S. Hope all is well with you and your family! That Sapphire cruise we were neighbors seems so long ago, scary😳

Mark

Hi Mark!  LOL  Yes, seems like eons ago! 
That's so interesting that you said that about the Emerald!  That is exactly the way I felt!  The worst cabin steward, crew didn't seem "into" work at all, dirty and dusty bits all over the ship that normally wouldn't have been there.  Just felt "off" from the minute I got in my cabin and the nightstand had black grime on it, there was a chocolate on the floor (which stayed there all cruise) and a hair band left from the previous occupants.  Just felt gross.  I'm hoping it's improved since then.

[MTJSR]

1 hour ago, DrivesLikeMario said:

Hi Mark!  LOL  Yes, seems like eons ago! 
That's so interesting that you said that about the Emerald!  That is exactly the way I felt!  The worst cabin steward, crew didn't seem "into" work at all, dirty and dusty bits all over the ship that normally wouldn't have been there.  Just felt "off" from the minute I got in my cabin and the nightstand had black grime on it, there was a chocolate on the floor (which stayed there all cruise) and a hair band left from the previous occupants.  Just felt gross.  I'm hoping it's improved since then.

 

Gosh I hope so!

 

Since we are sharing stories, we found a patter from an earlier Tahiti port stop under the bed near the wall. Also our room steward had a strong cologne on that hung in the air in the hall and in our  cabin and we never got an elite bathroom setup. Our Botticelli waiter was sick for a week and never told us until he was feeling better. Ourfood was luke warm the entire cruise. They kept saying the kitchen is reporting everything is hot enough, especially unhelpful...the head waiter (bald guy).

 

I also did a hard face plant on the vacant dance floor (club fusion), sprained my wrist, bruised my face and torqued my shoulder during the Elite cocktails (was not drinking) one night and not one uniformed crew person came to help me up, in fact my mom said they went behind the bar and watched. The DJ (romeo) was the only one that came to help.

 

I could go on and on but like you said, lets hope it has improved.

Edited April 14, 2019 by MTJSR

[DrivesLikeMario]

Wow!  Sounds like a rough cruise all around.  Hope you're all better now.  Let's hope the Emerald crew gets these bugs worked out soon!